COUNTY NEWS: Petition calling for Southern to be sacked to be handed to 10 Downing Street

Kelly-Marie Blundell, who led the campaign

Published:14:02Sunday 04 December 2016

A petition with more than 3,000 signatures will be delivered to Number 10 tomorrow (Monday, December 5) by Sussex campaigners.

Campaigners from the LibDems are heading up to London, calling on the Government to sack Southern Rail, before handing over the petition.

Kelly-Marie Blundell, Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for the Lewes constituency, is joining Carshalton and Wallington MP Tom Brake and London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon to hand in the petition calling for an end to Southern’s running of the county’s rail franchise.

The signatures were collected online and in person from constituencies along the Southern network, which runs across Sussex from London Victoria down to the county’s coastal towns.

Kelly-Marie Blundell said: “People are sick of the delays, cancellations and continued problems on Southern.

“Locally, we saw 80 per cent of Southern trains cut from Lewes, Newhaven, Polegate and Seaford over the summer, and while it has allegedly been restored, I and thousands of people like me spend hours stranded on services across Sussex.

“Unions and strikes are a distraction. Every train I tried to catch last week was delayed, cancelled or replaced with buses, and there were no strikes.

“Quite simply, commuters have had enough, and it’s time the Government paid attention to the problem and stripped Southern of the contract to deliver rail services.”

Commuters have until Thursday (December 8) to have their say on proposed changes to train timetables across the Southern network, which come into effect in 2018 following the completion of the Thameslink Programme.